


Style

by quietaria



Category: Stella Glow
Genre: Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Post-Game, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-21
Updated: 2019-06-21
Packaged: 2020-05-15 18:44:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,531
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19301614
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quietaria/pseuds/quietaria
Summary: Alto thinks Giselle's wardrobe could use a change of pace, and the Witches are very invested in ensuring that she goes out in style.





	Style

Alto glances at Giselle from across his coffee cup, the sharp glare of the morning sun reflecting just-so off her joints to hit him right in the eye. Morning Alto, unfortunately, is Lazy Alto, and he can't bring himself to budge, resigning himself to being blinded until Giselle or the sun moves- and from the perfectly still way she holds herself, perusing the _Lambert Daily Times_ , it's going to take a while.

He sighs, his eyes as glazed over as the donut he's been holding for the past fifteen minutes in a futile attempt to actually consume it, wondering why he let Lisette talk him into "self-improvement through early rising," when a thought suddenly strikes him.

"Giselle," he says, his voice still groggy. "What happened to that robe you used to wear?"

Mercifully, Giselle turns in his direction, and the sun falls- onto her wing, a multicolored array of light now directly assaulting his eyes. Alto doesn't have enough energy to groan. 

"It is still in my closet. As I primarily wore it to conceal my identity, and my identity is now widespread knowledge among the people of Lambert, I have determined that there is no further need to wear it."

"Ah, right." The first few weeks of reconstruction had been punctuated by occasional screams as the townspeople realized there was an angel in their midst, but that had gradually gone away once they noticed she was redlining the rubble strewn on the roads, and not them. Her astonishing efficiency at clearing away the streets, Alto thinks, rather won her over in the eyes of the masses, and now when Giselle steps outside, she's usually greeted with a barrage of friendly hellos, to which he's nothing but proudly happy.

"Why do you ask?" Giselle asks several beats later, and Alto inwardly beams at her increased interest in prolonging conversations.

"Nah, it's nothing. You didn't like wearing it much, then?"

"Like?" she repeats, her eyebrows furrowing almost imperceptibly. "I... do not think it was a matter of like or dislike. I merely wore it because it was necessary."

Curious, he asks, "Is there anything you want to wear, then?"

"I am not sure," Giselle answers slowly, and Alto grins.

"Let's find out, huh?" Alto offers, all too pleased to involve Giselle in yet another decidedly _human_ activity. "Good thing we've got the day off from repairs. Just-" he stifles a yawn behind his coffee cup. "Gimme another hour or so."

Her face partially eclipsed by the sun streaming in behind her like a halo, Alto thinks he sees the shadow of a smile on her face.

\---

"They don't look bad on you at all!" Alto exclaims, stepping around Giselle in a circle, dressed in his old clothes from Mithra. "How do they feel?"

"They are... practical," Giselle says. "Are these the clothes you wore for hunting?"

"Yup," Alto chuckles. "Back when the scariest thing I ever fought was a regular old wolf."

"I see," she says simply, but Alto swears she looks a little happy to be wearing it.

"Alto!" There's a voice making its way down the hall, and Lisette peeks into Alto's former room, finally reverted into being a storeroom again. _Not that it wasn't already one while I was living there_ , he thinks dryly. He misses it sometimes, the collection of pillows Mordi had bestowed upon him, and his ever-comfortable bed, but he doesn't quite miss the threat of being impaled by one of Sakuya's katanas flying at him due to a poorly timed earthquake. "Alto, you're not sneaking a nap in here, are you- Giselle?! What are you wearing?! Alto, what did you do to Giselle?!"

Giselle opens her mouth, confused, and Alto interrupts. "We're just figuring out clothes for Giselle to wear, that's all."

His sister looks scandalized. "And you put her in your old, sweaty-"

"Hey, I washed them plenty!"

" _Extremely_ sweaty, and dusty, and unflattering-"

"Hey! I think they look just fine!"

" _Hand-me-downs?_ For goodness' sake, Alto, I never made you wear any of my hand-me-downs!" Lisette huffs, her hands on her hips.

"I wouldn't fit in your clothes, anyways!" Alto mimics her pose. Lisette sticks her tongue out at him, and he mimics that too.

"Seriously, Alto, why is Giselle wearing your old clothes?" She breaks the standstill to stand closer to Giselle, who jumps, unused to the extra attention.

"Is there... something peculiar about these clothes, Lisette? They appear to be fairly standard clothes as worn by the general population." Alto's shirt, too baggy on her frame, bunches at her elbow joints as she looks more closely at the sleeves.

"Oh, no, no, it's not that the clothes themselves are weird. It's just that," she sighs. "They're _Alto's_ old clothes. He doesn't know a thing about fashion, you know."

" _Mom_ picked those out for me, so technically you're insulting _her_ taste, not mine," Alto points out. 

"You modified the vest so that it could hold more berries and wolf fangs in its pockets, and I'm pretty sure those boots didn't used to be _that_ brown," she responds, rolling her eyes. "But enough of that. If Giselle needs clothes, then I think we should go and buy some!"

"I... I do not exactly need clothing in order to function-" Giselle starts, but Lisette grabs onto her arm and smiles so brightly that Giselle meekly relents. "If it is not an inconvenience to you."

"Of course it isn't!" Lisette chirps. "You're coming too, Alto!"

"I thought you said my taste in clothes sucks?" Alto mutters goodnaturedly, but follows behind them.

\---

"Oh, you're heading out?" Popo exclaims at the three of them while seated at the dining table with a cup of dandelion coffee in front of her. To her right, Mordi is napping, drifting precariously closer to Sakuya's pancakes while Sakuya moves her plate farther and farther away lest the syrup get into her hair.

"Mordi, wake up- Giselle, what are you _wearing_?!" Sakuya demands, lifting her plate high above her head just as Mordi's head makes contact with the table, jolting her awake.

"Wh- Huh? Two Altos?" she asks, blearily rubbing her eyes.

"No, Giselle needed clothes and Alto decided to give her his old ones," Lisette explains patiently. "But she needs clothes of her own, and we're going out to buy her some!"

"Oh! I wanna come!" Popo shouts, jumping to her feet and nearly spilling her coffee. "Y'know, these clothes don't look so bad on you, Giselle!"

"I _told_ you-" Alto starts.

"No, they look _terrible!_ They don't complement Giselle in the slightest!" Sakuya interjects. Alto hangs his head and sighs. "I'm coming too. She needs a carefully selected color scheme."

"I'll... stay here..." Mordi mumbles, helping herself to Sakuya's pancakes.

"You're coming too," Sakuya declares. "And those are mine!" Before she can reach for the pancakes, Mordi shoves the last piece into her mouth, chewing very slowly. With a twitch, Sakuya drags her to the door, ignoring her half-hearted moans of protest.

Alto has to laugh, at both the flurry of activity and at Giselle's bewildered expression at having her modest shopping trip turn into a large ordeal. She turns to him, uncertain, and he gives her a reassuring smile. 

"Don't worry. It'll be more fun with everyone around. I kinda wonder if they can really work together to come up with an outfit for you, though, considering how, uh, differently everyone dresses." He coughs to clear away the mental image of Giselle wrapped up like a snowman in an amalgamation of everyone's clothes, including his own. "It'll be fine!" Giselle nods tentatively and lets Lisette usher them out the door.

"Going somewhere?"

The last one out the door, Alto turns around to see Hilda peering curiously at their entourage. "Ah, yeah, we're going to buy clothes for Giselle. Do you want to come?"

"Oh?" Hilda muses, tapping her fingers to her cheek. "It doesn't seem like she needs to conceal herself any longer."

"Nah, not for a disguise or anything. Just everyday clothes."

"I see," she begins, before being interrupted by Lisette poking her head back through the door.

"Get a move on, Alto! Oh, Hilda! You should come with us!"

"Er, actually-" Ignoring her feeble protests, Lisette takes hold of Hilda's arm and saunters on ahead.

Shaking his head, Alto vaguely wonders if Hilda is going to suggest that Giselle wear a giant witch's hat, but only chuckles as he closes the door behind him.

\---

"I think this looks good!" Popo holds up a pair of lemon-yellow shorts, the sides adorned with various tassels.

"No, that's too yellow. Giselle would look nice in dark colors. How about this?" Sakuya counters by measuring a dark red skirt against Giselle's waist.

"That looks cute! Oh, but these are so cute, too..." Lisette stares wistfully at a pair of pajamas.

"Uh, everyday clothes, remember?" Alto reminds her behind the growing heap of clothes to consider already piling up in his arms- likely the real reason Lisette was so insistent on him tagging along. Still, Giselle looks like she's having fun, or, at the very least, she hasn't flown out of the store yet, smashing right through the roof and setting off the alarms. She holds perfectly still, like a lost lamb, and doesn't object as the witches make her try on increasingly eclectic apparel. _Everyday clothes_ , Alto refrains himself from repeating, watching sympathetically as Mordi hands her a sundress and Hilda affixes a thick winter shawl around her shoulders.

"I... I believe this may exceed my allotted wardrobe space," Giselle finally utters, timidly. 

"Hmm, you might be right..." Lisette admits, a little disappointed. "Maybe we should try to stick to one or two outfits for now."

"How about we all pick one thing for Giselle to wear?" Popo suggests. 

"That could work," Sakuya says contemplatively. "We just need to make sure that we all pick out different pieces of clothing."

"I can pick out a blouse!" Lisette volunteers.

"Ooh! I can do shorts!" In Popo's arms are several pairs of shorts, all evidently competing for her top choice.

"Hmm, well, Giselle doesn't really need shoes," Sakuya murmurs underneath her breath. "How about a hair accessory? There's a lot we could do with your hair, Giselle."

"Bracelets," Mordi says, surprisingly unprompted. "Like mine."

Everyone's eyes turn toward Hilda. "Oh," she coughs. "P-perhaps... a nice necklace?"

"Hey, no one said anything about a hat," Alto remarks, mildly surprised.

"Oh, don't be silly, Alto," Hilda responds idly, already leafing through the jewelry on display. "Sakuya already said she would find Giselle a hair accessory, didn't she? It would clash."

Alto blinks. They're all taking this more seriously than he'd expected. He can't blame them, though, sneaking a glance at Giselle sitting patiently in an oversized chair with her hands in her lap, awaiting their judgement. Maybe _he'll_ get her a hat, he decides, his poor taste in clothing be damned.

\---

Nervously, Giselle's head peeks out from behind the fitting room's curtains.

"I'm sure you look great, Giselle. Come on, don't be shy!" Lisette urges. With a last backward glance, Giselle hesitantly brushes aside the curtain and steps out.

"Oh! You look really, really cute, Giselle!" Popo bursts out immediately, and the rest of the group exclaim their agreement similarly. 

"Yes, that looks very nice on you," Sakuya remarks critically. "And if I may say so myself, your hair looks quite pretty that way.

Self-consciously, Giselle touches her hand to the back of her head, where a silk ribbon neatly ties up her hair. "T-thank you." The golden hoops on her wrist jingle faintly with the motion, and Mordi smiles with some satisfaction, jangling her own in solidarity.

"You really do look wonderful, Giselle." Lisette steps closer to adjust her frilled collar, aligning the tiny star shaped charm on her necklace so that it lay flat and centered. "This necklace is lovely, Hilda."

Hilda lets a small smile cross her lips. "It is, isn't it? I thought the silver would complement her features."

Alto catches Giselle's eye as she's being swarmed and grins at how simultaneously pleased and baffled she looks, surrounded by girls wholeheartedly admiring her charm, and gestures behind himself with a wink. Puzzled, Giselle tilts her head, but Popo takes the opportunity to grab hold of her arm and ask her what she thinks of the shorts she picked out.

"They're... nice, Popo. The... baubles on the side are very unusual." 

Vigorously, Popo nods and points to one of them. "This one looks a bit like Bubu, don't you think?" 

Giselle nods and immediately gets dragged over to the full body mirror so that everyone can marvel more at how cute she looks.

_This is going to take a while_ , Alto thinks, perfectly content, and sinks downwards into one of the very comfortable velvety chairs in the waiting area.

\---

By the time the door to the store closes behind them, the sun is starting to set, sending orange rays over the cobbled ground and extending their shadows far ahead of them.

Alto lets the others mostly outpace him, waving his hand at Giselle to catch her attention.

"Yes, Alto?" she asks, slowing until she's shoulder to shoulder with him.

Alto takes a quick glance at the witches in front of him, too caught up in their own conversations to notice, and winks at Giselle before pulling something out from behind his back.

She blinks. "A hat?" She takes the offered sunhat and looks it over, tracing her fingers along the ribbon across its base and the embroidered flowers.

"Yeah. It caught my eye. What do you think?" 

Hesitantly, she places it on her head, mulling it over. "I think the brim is adequately sized as to shield the eyes from sunlight. And thematically, it seems to suit clothing traditionally worn in summer."

For a second, he remembers a hat worn by a woman from what seems almost a lifetime ago, but the colors here are darker, and the flowers don't quite seem to be the same, as far as Alto can tell, and the moment passes. 

"I think it looks great on you, Giselle," he grins. "Sorry for 'clashing' with the ribbon in your hair, though."

Giselle smiles, faint but shining, and pulls the brim closer to her head. "I do not really understand what it means for two pieces of clothing to clash, so... Thank you, Alto."

"I'd say this has been a pretty productive day, huh?" he asks cheerfully, stretching his slightly sore arms into the air.

Giselle opens her mouth to speak, but before she can utter a word, Lisette calls out at the two of them for being slowpokes, and Alto just shakes his head.

"Let's get going, or we might miss dinner at this rate. We skipped lunch from all the excitement, you know, so I bet everyone's famished." He isn't exactly joking; he's seen those girls vanish a veritable mountain of desserts before, and that was _after_ dinner. With a last nod at Giselle, he begins to jog after the rest of the group, hollering at them to wait.

Giselle runs the tips of her fingers over the flowers on her hat once more, then follows suit.


End file.
